The structural studies of amorphous isotropic carbon prepared from pyrolysis of phenol formaldehyde resin have been carried out using X-ray diffraction. X-ray diffraction from as prepared sample at 1000℃ and a sample treated at 1900℃ revealed that both are amorphous even though there are small differences in short range order. It is found that both are graphite like carbon (GLC) with predominantly sp2 hybridization. Small angle X-ray scattering results show that as prepared sample mainly consists of thin two dimensional platelets of graphitic carbon whereas they grow in thickness to become three dimensional materials of nano dimensions.

• K. Dasgupta(Materials Processing Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre)
• P.S.R. Krishna(Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre)
• R. Chitra(Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre)
• D. Sathiyamoorth(Materials Processing Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre)